Management as a Design Science Mindful of Art and Surprise A Conversation Between Anne Huff, David Tranfield, and Joan Ernst van Aken

Huff: Management is a relatively young profession and a young field of study. For some time, there has been an interest in "design" as a primary descriptor of management practice. Herbert Simon described management as a "design science" in The Sciences of the Artificial, first published in 1969 and reissued in a third edition in 1996, yet the specifics of design have not been clear to me, especially as the basis for action. My interest in design was recently piqued by David Tranfield, professor of management at Cranfield School of Management, who then introduced me to the work of Joan (pronounced "Johan" for those of you not familiar with names from the Netherlands) van Aken, professor of organization and management at Eindhoven University of Technology. van Aken’s work was very interesting, but I wasn’t initially convinced that management conceived as design could incorporate two metaphors for management that I have been more inclined to use: an "artful" blend of resources and action and the "capacity to respond to surprise." The following conversation with David and Joan provided a convincing positive answer. We discuss the definition of design, its importance, the art of design, its capacity to deal with surprise, inevitable limitations, how theory is involved, and a vision of the future. I hope that readers will find the basic idea as significant as I do

Management as a Design Science Mindful of Art and Surprise A Conversation Between Anne Huff, David Tranfield, and Joan Ernst van Aken

Huff: Management is a relatively young profession and a young field of study. For some time, there has been an interest in "design" as a primary descriptor of management practice. Herbert Simon described management as a "design science" in The Sciences of the Artificial, first published in 1969 and reissued in a third edition in 1996, yet the specifics of design have not been clear to me, especially as the basis for action. My interest in design was recently piqued by David Tranfield, professor of management at Cranfield School of Management, who then introduced me to the work of Joan (pronounced "Johan" for those of you not familiar with names from the Netherlands) van Aken, professor of organization and management at Eindhoven University of Technology. van Aken’s work was very interesting, but I wasn’t initially convinced that management conceived as design could incorporate two metaphors for management that I have been more inclined to use: an "artful" blend of resources and action and the "capacity to respond to surprise." The following conversation with David and Joan provided a convincing positive answer. We discuss the definition of design, its importance, the art of design, its capacity to deal with surprise, inevitable limitations, how theory is involved, and a vision of the future. I hope that readers will find the basic idea as significant as I do

Some characteristics of organisation development consultants.

A population of organisation development consultants is identified from the training function of the Chemical industry and certain demographic features are reported.These features are compared with other populations identified at the same time. A sample of organisation development consultants and training officers are interviewed in depth regarding some personal and professional beliefs. Organisation development is analysed as a social movement, and some major findings on the characteristics of those who join various kinds of social movement are reported. Two hypotheses (i and ii) relating the aetiology of the values of organisation development consultants to those of their parents or significant authorities in early childhood are taken from the literature and tested in relation to organisation development consultants. A third hypothesis (iii) concerning the aetiology of values of organisation development consultants is developed from object relations theory.The organisation development consultants are compared with a group of trainee social scientists and trainee general managers regarding their perceptions on various dimensions o£ their parents. As a result, negative findings are recorded concerning hypotheses i) and ii), the dependency and counterdependency hypotheses. Hypothesis iii) is tested by literature reanalysis, reanalysis of depth interviews with organisation development consultants and by fieldwork usingthe object relations technique both with a group of organisation development consultants and a group of college lecturers. Further comparisons are made with clinical groups on whom the object relations technique has been used. The implications of the findings regarding hypothesis iii) are discussed both in relation to organisation development practice and the further research needed as a result of this work

Some characteristics of organisation development consultants.

A population of organisation development consultants is identified from the training function of the Chemical industry and certain demographic features are reported.These features are compared with other populations identified at the same time. A sample of organisation development consultants and training officers are interviewed in depth regarding some personal and professional beliefs. Organisation development is analysed as a social movement, and some major findings on the characteristics of those who join various kinds of social movement are reported. Two hypotheses (i and ii) relating the aetiology of the values of organisation development consultants to those of their parents or significant authorities in early childhood are taken from the literature and tested in relation to organisation development consultants. A third hypothesis (iii) concerning the aetiology of values of organisation development consultants is developed from object relations theory.The organisation development consultants are compared with a group of trainee social scientists and trainee general managers regarding their perceptions on various dimensions o£ their parents. As a result, negative findings are recorded concerning hypotheses i) and ii), the dependency and counterdependency hypotheses. Hypothesis iii) is tested by literature reanalysis, reanalysis of depth interviews with organisation development consultants and by fieldwork usingthe object relations technique both with a group of organisation development consultants and a group of college lecturers. Further comparisons are made with clinical groups on whom the object relations technique has been used. The implications of the findings regarding hypothesis iii) are discussed both in relation to organisation development practice and the further research needed as a result of this work